Financial planning firm Falcon Wealth Planning has filed a lawsuit against a former employee alleging he stole client lists and other proprietary information for a competing planning firm he launched while still at Falcon.

The Ontario, Calif- based firm accused Ray Sensenig of launching Sensenig Coaching & Consulting (SCC) while a Falcon employee and sending proprietary information to his personal email through his Falcon email account, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 

“Sensenig used his employment with Falcon Wealth as a guise to improperly gain access to Falcon Wealth’s confidential business materials and take them for his and SCC’s benefit,” the lawsuit said.

The firm hired him in October of 2023 to serve as its business development specialist, where he would operate as the first point of contact for any potential client. However, within a month of his employment, Sensenig launched his own financial planning firm in the same area as Falcon, the court documents claim.

“At no point during his employment with Falcon Wealth did Sensenig ever disclose to Falcon Wealth that he created SCC, or that he was engaged in outside business activities,” the court documents said. “To the contrary, Sensenig remained employed with Falcon Wealth for several months after he formed SCC and continued to receive and accept wages and benefits from Falcon Wealth.”

Sensenig allegedly still reported for work and on several occasions emailed proprietary information from his Falcon email address to his personal email violating company policy, court documents allege. 

The last day Sensenig reported for work was on March 1, the lawsuit says. Over the next few weeks, he failed to show up for work and Falcon was forced to terminate him on March 22 for job abandonment, court documents claim. While he was not reporting for work at Falcon, Sensenig was posting advertisements for his new firm on social media, the suit claims.

Subsequently, the firm learned of his new firm and believes he had established it using trade secrets and clients he illegally acquired from Falcon, court documents said.

“Falcon Wealth alleges that Sensenig has used proprietary and confidential trade secret information acquired through his employment to wrongfully compete against the company for the benefit of himself and SCC, breaching his duty of loyalty to Falcon Wealth and violating California and federal law,” the documents said.

The firm accused Sensenig of violating the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act, the California Trade Secrets Act, the Duty of Loyalty, and the California Penal Code. The firm claims it has lost and is still losing business due to Sensenig’s actions, although it did not quantify the amount.

“Falcon Wealth has been damaged in a sum which is difficult to quantify and presently unascertainable,” it said in court documents. 

The firm is seeking injunctive relief, along with disgorgement of the wages and benefits the firm paid Sensenig totaling at least $28,210.56, as well as a list of the clients Sensenig contacted, the amount of revenue he received from them, and punitive damages.

Calls and emails to Falcon, its attorney, and Sensenig and his firm were not immediately returned.